Last month I had to fly for the first time in four years, and I had forgotten how annoying the “take out your laptop for x-raying” could be.  Luckily those rules have been relaxed some as of today.

The new Transportation Security Administration rules only apply to certain styles of bags, you can see them pictured here to the right.  You can also read all of the new guidelines on the TSA site.  I am currently using an accordion style bag, but I am seriously going to look into a butterfly or trifold style.

My worries about this come from in 2004 my laptop got dropped a short distance when I took it out of its bag and it killed my battery just as I was boarding a plan to fly to Japan for 2 weeks of business.  That put a definite crimp in what I could do while there.  Yes, it could have happened anytime, anywhere, but taking your laptop out in a hectic environment like the security line, with people breathing down your neck to hurry up, and security people giving you suspicious looks, it is bound to be a place more prone to equipment damage.

So, frequent travelers should be sure to looking into these new bags, as they should speed up your time passing through security considerably.  The TSA agents still have the right to ask you to remove the laptop, but the number of instances should be reduced.